Mozzy – ‘1 Up Top Ahk’ review: Relentlessly tough and soulful journey

Mozzy raps the blues on 1 Up Top Ahk. Every syllable released from his weathered vocal chords is imbued with the kind of pain that can only be channelled when you've seen too damn much.

The Sacramento emcee consoles a murdered friend's mother on Take It Up With God and decries the "skeletons in my closet I be hiding from" on Unfortunately. Framing the doom is a clutch of eerily soulful beats that lean on sped-up vocal samples, pristine piano keys, spectral synths, isolated finger snaps and plenty of dead space.

It all adds up to a relentlessly tough record. 1 Up Top Ahk plays like a drugged-out wander through a destitute landscape with Mozzy's tuneless flow as your guide. But even journeying to hell and back can have some beautiful sights.